ABSTRACT
Se presenta un caso clínico interpretado al principio como asma alérgica al pelo de perro y, luego, documentado como neumonitis por hipersensibilidad no fibrótica vinculada al antecedente ambiental doméstico.
We present a case initially interpreted as allergic asthma triggered by dog hair and later confirmed as non-fibrotic hypersensitivity pneumonitis (HP) associated with domestic environmental conditions.
Subject(s)
Alveolitis, Extrinsic Allergic , Animals, DomesticABSTRACT
Animal-assisted interventions (AAI) have been showing significant results in human health promotion. This study aimed to develop and present validity evidence of the Children-Dog Interaction Scale (CDIS) for the Brazilian population. Items were developed and evaluated by experts. Parents of children between 2 and 12 years old (n = 118) completed the CDIS and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Exploratory Factor Analysis generated two dimensions: Affective Interactions (23 items, α = .89) and Educational and Punitive Interactions (8 items, α = .65) between children and dogs. The significant correlations between CDIS and SDQ dimensions indicated that the interaction between children and dogs could be a significant variable for assessing children's behavioral problems. We concluded that CDIS is a valid and reliable instrument to assess children-dog interactions and screen children for IAA participation.
As Intervenções Assistidas por Animais (IAAs) apresentam resultados expressivos para a promoção da saúde humana. O objetivo deste artigo foi construir e apresentar evidências de validade da Escala de Interação entre Crianças e Cães (EICC) para a população brasileira. O instrumento foi desenvolvido a partir da literatura e submetido a análise de juízes, o qual respondido por 118 pais de crianças entre 2 e 12 anos de idade, juntamente com o Questionário de Capacidades e Dificuldades (SDQ). A partir da análise fatorial exploratória, foram extraídos os fatores Interação Afetiva (α = .89), 23 itens e Interação Educativa e Punitiva (α = .65), 8 itens. As correlações significativas entre dimensões da EICC e do SDQ indicam que a interação entre crianças e cães domésticos pode ser uma variável importante para a avaliação de problemas comportamentais. Conclui-se que a EICC apresenta bons índices de validade e confiabilidade e pode ser usada para a triagem de crianças.
Las intervenciones asistidas por animales (IAA) han mostrado resultados significativos para la promoción de la salud humana. El objetivo fue construir y presentar evidencia de validez de la Escala de Interacción entre Niños y Perros (EICC) para la población brasileña. El instrumento desarrollado a partir de la literatura y sometido al análisis de jueces, fue respondido por 118 padres de niños de entre 2 y 12 años, junto con el Cuestionario de Capacidades y Dificultades (SDQ). Del análisis factorial exploratorio, se extrajeron los factores interacción afectiva (23 elementos, α = ,89) y interacción educativa y punitiva (ocho elementos, α = ,65) Correlaciones significativas entre las dimensiones del EICC y el SDQ indican que la interacción entre los niños y los perros domésticos puede ser una variable importante para evaluar los problemas de comportamiento. Se concluye que el instrumento tiene buenos índices de validez y confiabilidad, y se puede utilizar para la detección de niños.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Child, Preschool , Child , Child , Child Behavior , Child, Preschool , Dogs , Human-Animal Interaction , Psychometrics , Behavior , Surveys and Questionnaires , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Diagnosis , Health PromotionABSTRACT
Dadas las crecientes investigaciones acerca de las habilidades sociocognitivas de los perros domésticos, recientemente se renovó el interés hacia sus correlatos fisiológicos. Particularmente se está indagando en el papel de la oxitocina (OT), una neurohormona que modula las conductas afiliativas y sociocognitivas de diversas especies. El objetivo del presente trabajo es realizar una revisión de los estudios sobre los efectos de la OT en las conductas sociocognitivas en perros. Se analizarán los trabajos que miden OT endógena y los efectos de la administración exógena. Asimismo, se presentarán las posibles áreas de aplicación, así como la dirección de futuras investigaciones en el área.
Given the growing investigation on the dog-human bond and sociocognitive skills of domestic dogs, the focus of research has recently been shifted towards its physiological correlates. Oxytocin (OT), a neuro-hormone that modulates affiliative and sociocognitive behaviors in a wide number of species, has received particular interest. The aim of this paper is to review studies which focus on the effects of OT on the socio-cognitive behaviors in dogs. These works were divided into investigations that measured endogenous and exogenous administration of OT. Several endogenous OT studies measure OT concentration in dogs using samples of blood, urine or saliva. In these studies, OT effects on affiliative interactions, mutual gazing and stressful situations were found. Physical contact and gazing were affiliative interactions which modulated the OT release. In addition, proximity and contact seeking were associated with OT release in stressful situations. Exogenous OT studies measure the physiological and behavioral effects of OT intranasal administration. These studies were grouped into research that found effects of OT in social interaction, gaze, communication, and cognitive bias in dogs. In the social interaction studies, intranasal OT was found to improve affiliative behaviors with both interspecifics and conspecifics. In gazing studies, this neuro-hormone was found to increase gazing towards the region of human eyes, even in threatening contexts. Regarding communicative effects, OT modulated the ability to follow human communicative cues in dogs. Moreover, was found that OT increased positive cognitive bias and induced positive expectations. Although there is evidence of OT influencing behavior on both sexes, some studies have found differences based on gender. For example, the females had longer gaze duration toward humans, improved following of human communicative cues such as pointing and looked more at projected images on a screen than males. These effects could be explained by the interaction of the OT system and the estrogen levels in females. Concerning the applied area, OT could beused in the treatment of canine behavioral problems such as social deficits, phobias and separation anxiety. Moreover, it could facilitate integration in dogs with poor early socialization, like shelter or abandoned dogs. In addition, it could improve the training in rescue and assistance dogs. However, further research is needed since there are no follow-up reports of treatments in dogs. In conclusion, OT increases affiliative behaviors in dogs both towards humans and their conspecifics. Regarding endogenous OT studies, effects were found with both brief interactions ranging between 3 and 4 minutes, as well as long-term interactions, between 25 and 30 minutes. In exogenous OT studies, although there is no consensus on the amounts of OT to be administered, effects were found with 2 IU / kg,12, 24 and 40 IU on at least one of the measured variables. Specifically, nasal OT enhances the ability to use human communicative cues, induces positive expectations about neutral stimuli, and increases gaze both toward human eyes and to socially relevant stimuli. A number of exogenous OT studies showed differential effects on sex. Female dogs had greater responses to exogenous OT administration than males. Therefore, sex should be a variable to be considered in future studies. In sum, although the studies in this field are incipient, OT appears to be key in the interaction between dogs and humans since it participates in the interspecific bond, affiliative behaviors and socio-cognitive skills in domestic dogs.
ABSTRACT
Históricamente, la comunicación referencial fue considerada como exclusivamente humana. No obstante, recientemente se observó que los animales también pueden referirse hacia objetos externos. Para los perros domésticos, las personas proveen el acceso a los recursos valiosos, por lo que una adecuada comunicación con las mismas resulta fundamental. En este contexto, la comprensión y producción de señales comunicativas visuales cobran especial relevancia. Las evidencias revisadas indican que los perros detectan el estado atencional humano, siguen la orientación de la cabeza para hallar comida oculta y dirigen la atención del humano hacia un objeto fuera de su alcance, mediante la alternancia de la mirada. En función de ello, se sugiere que los perros se comunican de manera referencial con las personas. Sin embargo, esto no necesariamente implica que comprendan al otro como un agente intencional. Se discuten los posibles mecanismos involucrados así como las hipótesis acerca del origen de dichas capacidades.(AU)
Referential communication has been historically viewed as uniquely human because it is linked with the use of language. However, there is evidence indicating that animals can also communicate about external objects, by means of vocalizations or gestures. The use of gestures as pointing or gaze alternation involves the ability to direct the attention of an observer to a distal object or entity in the environment. This ability is shared with other species, especially those who live in captivity. For domestic dogs as for the species that live in captivity, humans provide the main resources for survival. For this reason a proper communication with them is essential. Visual social cues can be used to communicate emotional and mental states and so they allow us to predict others behavior. In this context, both comprehension of the human gaze as well as the production of visual communicative signals by domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) have special relevance. The evidence reviewed in the present study indicate that dogs can detect cues associated with human attentional states as head orientation, behaving differently when the person remains attentive or inattentive. Also, they are able to follow human head direction to find hidden food in an object choice task, but not gaze direction. Moreover, dogs can direct human attention toward an out-of-reach object, alternating their own gaze between the human face and the target. On that basis, as dogs can detect, follow and direct human attention, it would be possible to suggest that they can referentially communicate with people about distal objects in the environment; however these capacities were principally observed in foraging contexts. Nevertheless this does not imply that dogs necessarily comprehend others as intentional beings. There are several hypotheses to explain the origin of these abilities in dogs, some postulate that the intense process of domestication to which them were submitted, provide them a special sensitivity to communicate with humans. Differently, others stress the importance of ontogeny. Although the domestication process would be essential for understanding dogs ability to communicate with humans, the experience with people that they have throughout their lives is also involved in the acquisition of these skills. The two-stage hypothesis states that in addition to the domestication process, the sensitivity of a canid to human social cues depends on two types of ontogeny experience. First, interaction with humans during a sensitive developmental period leading to the acceptance of humans as social companions. Second, learning that is not restricted to a particular phase of development to utilize the location and movement of parts of the human body to locate sought-after objects. This would lead to a human-food association by conditioning processes. As domestic dogs spend most of their lives in human families, they have many opportunities to learn to use these signals. This hypothesis recognizes that the domestication of dogs provided a longer socialization period than that of other canids facilitating the acceptance of humans as social partners. However, the animals contact with people during its ontogenetic development is essential, if this contact does not occur at the right time, communicative skills will not properly develop. Possibly, during thousands of years dogs have been learning to gaze at the human face as the shortest way to satisfy their needs. This gazing exchange thus became a privileged channel of communication between the two species.(AU)
ABSTRACT
Históricamente, la comunicación referencial fue considerada como exclusivamente humana. No obstante, recientemente se observó que los animales también pueden referirse hacia objetos externos. Para los perros domésticos, las personas proveen el acceso a los recursos valiosos, por lo que una adecuada comunicación con las mismas resulta fundamental. En este contexto, la comprensión y producción de señales comunicativas visuales cobran especial relevancia. Las evidencias revisadas indican que los perros detectan el estado atencional humano, siguen la orientación de la cabeza para hallar comida oculta y dirigen la atención del humano hacia un objeto fuera de su alcance, mediante la alternancia de la mirada. En función de ello, se sugiere que los perros se comunican de manera referencial con las personas. Sin embargo, esto no necesariamente implica que comprendan al otro como un agente intencional. Se discuten los posibles mecanismos involucrados así como las hipótesis acerca del origen de dichas capacidades.
Referential communication has been historically viewed as uniquely human because it is linked with the use of language. However, there is evidence indicating that animals can also communicate about external objects, by means of vocalizations or gestures. The use of gestures as pointing or gaze alternation involves the ability to direct the attention of an observer to a distal object or entity in the environment. This ability is shared with other species, especially those who live in captivity. For domestic dogs as for the species that live in captivity, humans provide the main resources for survival. For this reason a proper communication with them is essential. Visual social cues can be used to communicate emotional and mental states and so they allow us to predict other's behavior. In this context, both comprehension of the human gaze as well as the production of visual communicative signals by domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) have special relevance. The evidence reviewed in the present study indicate that dogs can detect cues associated with human attentional states as head orientation, behaving differently when the person remains attentive or inattentive. Also, they are able to follow human head direction to find hidden food in an object choice task, but not gaze direction. Moreover, dogs can direct human attention toward an out-of-reach object, alternating their own gaze between the human face and the target. On that basis, as dogs can detect, follow and direct human attention, it would be possible to suggest that they can referentially communicate with people about distal objects in the environment; however these capacities were principally observed in foraging contexts. Nevertheless this does not imply that dogs necessarily comprehend others as intentional beings. There are several hypotheses to explain the origin of these abilities in dogs, some postulate that the intense process of domestication to which them were submitted, provide them a special sensitivity to communicate with humans. Differently, others stress the importance of ontogeny. Although the domestication process would be essential for understanding dogs' ability to communicate with humans, the experience with people that they have throughout their lives is also involved in the acquisition of these skills. The two-stage hypothesis states that in addition to the domestication process, the sensitivity of a canid to human social cues depends on two types of ontogeny experience. First, interaction with humans during a sensitive developmental period leading to the acceptance of humans as social companions. Second, learning that is not restricted to a particular phase of development to utilize the location and movement of parts of the human body to locate sought-after objects. This would lead to a human-food association by conditioning processes. As domestic dogs spend most of their lives in human families, they have many opportunities to learn to use these signals. This hypothesis recognizes that the domestication of dogs provided a longer socialization period than that of other canids facilitating the acceptance of humans as social partners. However, the animal's contact with people during its ontogenetic development is essential, if this contact does not occur at the right time, communicative skills will not properly develop. Possibly, during thousands of years dogs have been learning to gaze at the human face as the shortest way to satisfy their needs. This gazing exchange thus became a privileged channel of communication between the two species.
ABSTRACT
El señalamiento puede ser definido como la acción que realiza un individuo, para dar una indicación directa a otro con respecto a un objetivo específico. Implica coordinar la atención visual del otro hacia una entidad distante. En la presente revisión se discuten los trabajos comparativos sobre la producción y comprensión del señalamiento. En cautiverio se observaron respuestas correctas al señalamiento humano para encontrar un objeto escondido en una amplia variedad de especies. En el trabajo que se informa se da especial énfasis a los estudios sobre comunicación entre perros domésticos y humanos, dado que han mostrado ser altamente exitosos utilizando claves sociales humanas para acceder a un refuerzo. Se discuten los posibles mecanismos involucrados, analizando la controversia acerca de la participación de factores cognitivos complejos del tipo de cognición social y teoría de la mente y las explicaciones más cautas sobre procesos de aprendizaje asociativo.
Communication between two animals takes place when an external observer can detect changes in the behavior of one of them, in response to certain signs emitted by the other one. The pointing gesture is a key element inside gestural communication. It can be defined as the action that an organism executes, to give a direct indication to other one, regarding a specific objective. This gesture is related to how an organism coordinates the visual attention of another one towards a distant entity. It has two principal functions: as declarative gesture, it implies an action that directs the attention of the receiver to an object or event of interest; as imperative gesture, some type of action is required from the receiver. In this paper, some studies focused on the production and, most of them, on the comprehension of pointing are discussed. Regarding the production of communicative cues, primates rarely point in their natural habitats, but captive chimpanzees usually point food out of their reach. There are few studies of communicative production in domestic dogs, and their focus is on the applied value of this ability as in hunting or rescue. This species use body posture, barks and gaze alternation (showing) as communicative cues. On the other hand, the most common test to evaluate whether animals can understand declarative gestures is the object-choice task, which forces subjects to use an indicatory gesture in order to find hidden food. In this test, the subject is given a choice between two possible food locations, usually opaque containers. The experimenter hides food in one of the containers and gives a cue (e.g. pointing, gazing, tapping, etc.) towards the aim container. The subject can choose one of the potential locations, following the human cue. Using pointing as a cue in situations of captivity, correct responses were observed in a wide variety of species including capuchin monkeys, orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, dolphins, domestic goats, cats, horses, seals and fur seals. In this paper we give special emphasis to the studies with domestic dogs, because they have shown to be especially skilful at the communicative version of the object choice task. The dogs are very skilful using a variety of cues, including pointing, looking, and bowing towards the object. Moreover, this successful performance takes place from the first trials and from early stages of development, without needing an explicit training. Regarding the elements of pointing gesture, a study has shown that an elevated arm position was the most relevant element in the composition of this signal, whereas the direction of the movement of the arm played a small relevance in the indication of the direction for the dog. The hand or the index fingers seem to be of special importance, while the arm and elbow were not effective signs. Furthermore, in some cases the dogs favour the social information even if there are physical cues that contradict it, such as visual or olfatory cues. We present comparative studies between domestic dogs and other species, including other canids like wolves and foxes, primates and cats. The superior performance of the dogs is analyzed. Finally, the possible mechanisms involved in this ability are discussed, analyzing the controversy between cognitive complex factors, such as social cognition and theory of mind (high level explanation), and more cautious explanations, such as associative learning processes (low level explanation). The relevance of these studies about communication is revealed in the great quantity of applied areas in which dogs are used, such as assistance to disabled persons, search and rescue of people, hunting, herding, defense, pets and others fields.
ABSTRACT
El estudio de las diferencias individuales en el comportamiento de los perros domésticos tiene un gran valor aplicado dado que permite una mejor selección de los mismos para cumplir las variadas funciones que tienen en la sociedad humana como perros guía, policía, compañía, rescatistas de personas, etc. En el trabajo que se informa se presenta una revisión de estudios sobre diferencias individuales en perros, basada únicamente en las baterías conductuales que evalúan un conjunto de rasgos del temperamento. Con este objetivo se realiza una breve descripción de cada batería de pruebas utilizadas en la literatura, analizando las definiciones operacionales de las variables evaluadas y los diferentes tipos de estímulos utilizados. Los rasgos mayormente evaluados son: temerosidad, agresividad, disposición al entrenamiento y sociabilidad. La temerosidad, en general es evaluada a través de la respuesta del animal ante la aparición de un estímulo súbito que puede ser intenso o no, como por ejemplo la reacción frente a un ruido fuerte, la apertura de un paraguas, o la aparición repentina de una figura humana. La agresividad se mide a través de la reacción frente a la amenaza o provocación por parte de un humano, la sustracción de un objeto o la confrontación con un perro dominante. La disposición al entrenamiento es estudiada a través de la respuesta del animal frente a diferentes estímulos como el juego con un trapo o una cuerda, el ejercicio de devolución de un objeto o la obediencia frente a distintos comandos. Por último, la sociabilidad se evalúa con la aparición o el acercamiento de un humano desconocido o con la exposición a un perro no familiar. Se discuten además las limitaciones metodológicas de las baterías así como también los importantes usos aplicados de las mismas.
A review of the research on individual differences in domestic dogs is presented in this paper. Temperament has been defined as the group of individual differences in behavior which is manifested steadily across situations and over time. It has been studied in a wide range of species including humans. Domestic dogs have undergone intense processes of selection on behavioral traits during domestication, and in the development of different breeds. These processes produced a great morphological, genetic and behavioral variability, which turned the dog in an interesting model for the study of individual differences. In this study we present a review of the different test batteries developed for the assessment of various behavioral traits. Test batteries are defined as standard experimental situations where a stimulus is used to provoke a behavior which is compared statistically to that of other individuals in the same situations, in order to classify the subjects. To achieve this aim, a brief description of seven batteries is given. Four of them evaluated dogs from breeding or train ing centers. Their aim was to select those animals which possess the most adequate traits to become guide or police dogs. The remaining batteries evaluated shelter dogs in order to elaborate a behavioral profile to improve the adoption process. In each battery described we analysed the operational definitions of the variables, the method used for scoring the animal's responses (overall vs. direct), the use of trained observers and the different types of stimuli used. The behavioral traits that are mainly assessed in dogs are fearfulness, aggressiveness, responsiveness to training, and sociability. Fearfulness is generally assessed through the appearance of a startling stimulus, which can be intense or not, such as the reaction towards a strong noise, the open ing of an umbrella, or the sudden appearance of a human figure. Aggressiveness is measured through the reaction towards a threat or provocation of a human being, the removal of an object, or the confrontation with a dominant dog. Responsiveness to train ing is studied through the response of the animal towards different stimuli, such as tug of war, retrieval, or obedience to commands. Finally, sociability is assessed with the appearance or approach of an unknown human being, or with the exposure to an unfamiliar dog. On the whole, the relevance of the assessment of these traits is fundamentally linked to the close relationship between dogs and humans. On the other hand, from a methodological point of view, it is important to note that most of the batteries evaluated a great number of subjects, which is difficult to achieve. Also, they allow to study behavioral variability in several traits at the same time, providing a large amount of information. Notably, several tests obtained predictive validity. The main difficulties presented by the temperament batteries are the diversity in nomenclature of the same traits and the variety of definitions used. Some of them even lack the reliability and validity requirements which are necessary to be considered measuring instruments. Furthermore, complex statistical analyses are done with unreliably obtained data. To conclude, despite the methodological limitations, temperament batteries have a great applied value. They allow the adequate selection of animals before the investment of valuable resources in their training, and a correct temperament evaluation can improve the adoption process of shelter dogs, diminishing the risk of relinquishment by predicting behavioral problems. The scope of this subject does not only matter to researchers interested in animal models of individual differences in behavior, but also to all the professionals who work in applied areas where dogs are an elemental part of the task, as the rescue or search of missing people, assisted therapy, drug detection, herding, etc.
ABSTRACT
Los rasgos del temperamento se definen como tendencias conductuales estables entre situaciones similares y a lo largo del tiempo. En el presente trabajo se revisan las pruebas conductuales diseñadas para la evaluación de rasgos aislados del temperamento en los perros domésticos. Para cada dimensión se describen los estímulos empleados, las respuestas evaluadas y el correlato fisiológico de las mismas. Los rasgos más estudiados fueron la temerosidad, la agresividad y la sociabilidad. Sin embargo, sólo la primera cuenta con correlatos fisiológicos bien establecidos. Finalmente, las evaluaciones conductuales resultan de suma importancia para la selección de los perros para las distintas funciones que cumplen en la sociedad humana: detección de drogas, compañía, guardia, rescate de personas, etc.
A temperament trait is defined as a stable behavioral tendency along time and among similar situations. This study intends to analyze the behavioral tests designed for the evaluation of isolated temperamental traits of domestic dogs. The type of stimulus used, the behaviors evaluated and the physiological substrates are described for each dimension. Fearfulness, aggressiveness and sociability were the most studied traits. Nevertheless, only the first one has well established physiological bases. Finally, behavioral tests are of great relevance for selecting dogs for the different roles that they perform in human society, such as drug detection, company, security, human rescue, etc.